Les Petites Fleurs: One Writer’s Ode to all his Story Notes

I am a writer. In between the short stories, the essays, the random poem or two, I do brief writerly sketches or take notes on my ideas. These little fragments are scattered across the notes app on my phone, scraps of paper and sticky notes strewn about my desk, and — when I’m in the mood to stay organized — sometimes in a long running document where I type them in.

The intention, at least in the moment, is to capture the essence of the Idea — be it a theme for a story or essay, a sketching of a character, a good title for a story, really anything — so that I might revisit it and write it up for the world to see. If anything, it’s a fun exercise and a way to seal them up in jars while I’m in the middle of writing another story or paper.

But if I’m being honest, I seldom return to those notes and flesh them out into entire stories. They remain as little fragments and traces of things in my phone, on my computer, or on pieces of paper in my frenzied “It’s 2AM and I’ve got to write this down RIGHT NOW or I’ll lose this brilliant idea forever” handwriting. I have found that when I want to start a new short story or an essay, one of two things will happen: There will be an idea at hand, popping into my head, a mere whisper of a thing that I’ll chase down and develop. Or, as is more common, one of the notions I had while…